I chose these photos inspired by Alan's post on News from Nowhere: The Book is Dead, Long Live the Book.
Alan is launching into a book project to commemorate his parents while I
have the great honor of being able to help my mother's stories live on.

As you can probably surmise, Mern Warwick lead an extremely active life. In the 1980s and 1990s, there weren't too many people in their 50s and 60s backpacking the Grand Canyon. When cancer struck, limiting her mobility, my mother took solace in writing down our family adventures. And they were adventures! After breaking a mast and weathering a particularly violent thunderstorm in the middle of a large lake my husband commented, "I thought this vacation wasn't going to be life-threatening!"

My mother and I combed through hundreds of photos trying to find just the right ones to illustrate the various stories. We shared our memories and laughed as we worked. Sadly, she passed away before we were able to finish her book - there were only a few unfinished stories. But, as Alan has said, technology is a wonderful thing and it is now possible to create a bound book of her memories to share with the family.

It is very difficult for a photograph to convey the sense of scale of the Grand Canyon. The backpacking routes my parents followed were 40-50 miles but covered only a very small fraction of the canyon. Much of the distance seemed to be going either straight down or straight up! You can barely see the river snaking through the valley below. All the trips into the Grand Canyon included a swim! Sadly, my personal photographs of the Grand Canyon are on slides - a box not yet tackled. Below is another photograph taken by my father ca 1955.

This is just one of several posts on Sepia Saturday 93. So put your feet up, take a rest and enjoy a virtual hike through interpretations on a theme that are certain to be as varied as the strata of the Grand Canyon.

Kristin,Definitely not too many cowboy movies! There is a picture of a pink rattler in the bunch. I just HATE rattlers so I didn't include it - they make me nervous and excessively aware of my ankles. :) I'll add it if there is enough interest though. :)))

While I have flown over and seen the Grand Canyon many times I have never wanted to hike it, not even when I was in my 30's, nor have I wanted to take one of those donkey rides down... It is just too deep and too hot. This is a great photo and I like your blog, the name intrigued me right off. Your mother had it right to write her adventures. You are fortunate to have a good start on things and yes today producing a book is not as difficult. Good luck continuing her saga.

One day I hope to hike down, and up, the Grand Canyon, but I think by the time I get there I'll be doing a good deal of that resting business along the way, provided there aren't too many of those rattlers around.

Such a beautiful post about your mother. I love the photo of her resting after a full day of hiking. It is almost possible to see the pleasure she is getting from that rest on her face.I spent many years asking my parents to write their stories but sadly they didn't get them written. When talking to my son about it he turned to me and asked if I had written mine ...I have since made a start.

Hi Liz, this is a beautiful post. Unlike your mother my mom did not have a lot of happy adventures to share. But life is precious and I am working on those precious moments that mean the world to us who loved her. Great job. I have never gotten to see the GC. Mose of my travels were south to the Caribbean. QMM